taxes here are assessed mostly by 'property', not the actual house (altho that figure into it),,it's also by town. Our town taxes are absolutely ridiculous..If you look at the tax breakdown here, 85% of it is going to the SCHOOLS..I'd be alot richer if I didn't have to pay school taxes)

I think it's great to get an architect and builder with YOU when looking at any house , to get a real good idea of how much it would cost to "fix" whatever is wrong and any future expense..If you can afford the "fixes" I say go for it

If you look at a tax bill...its broken into property (the land) and improvements (the house). Usually the property is worth way more than the house (it sounds like that is the case for this area).

I'm looking into a fixer upper as well, so I've done my research. Even if you file an abatement...it might lower the assessed value, but probably not to true market value. The home I'm looking at just had its assessed value reduced by $40,000 but is still about $60,000 higher than true market value. Your RE agent sounds like they don't know what they're talking about, this is something they definitely should've told you and not just said we'll have to look into that later.

Remember...construction loans are more expensive than regular mortgages. Also, sometimes a bank will not give you a loan to fix things, so the foundation you mentioned...you might not get $15000 on a loan to fix that and that would have to be a pretty big penny out of your pocket to fix that.

In addition to taxes in your area, make sure you question insurance requirements as well as any home owners associations etc.

Also, it may be difficult to get a loan for a home that will not pass inspections. I'm not saying that this home would or wouldn't, just something to think about.

I live in the county. I bought my home over 20 years ago for $90,000.00 Today, my taxes and insurance cost me as much a month as my house note did. Each month as I squirrel away the money needed I tell myself, "It's an investment." It's the land that holds the value at this point.

Every improvement you make, every addition you make, your taxes will increase as well as your insurance. (At least it does where I live.) Make sure you don't paint yourself into a corner.

Also, keep in mind that when you're given a quote for any kind of construction, that it is NOT a firm figure. I've yet to see the home construction or remodel that does not run over budget to some degree. Be sure you have some financial leeway when your project/s do the same.

Also if you're getting an FHA loan for your mortgage they have certain standards. Luckily they've relaxed some recently. For example, our 75 year old house has all these original single paned, sash-weight style windows that are large (nonstandard sized) windows broken into many small panes and a few of these panes had cracks. The realtor was worried that FHA would reject us unless we got the seller to fix them, but turns out you can have cracks as long as they aren't missing. We never fixed them anyway, once we're done tackling our student loans we're going to replace all the windows room by room.

We moved in April 2011 and haven't done anything except paint almost every room, pull up carpet in the smallest bedroom (already had original hardwood continued underneath), replace the gate across the driveway (making it do proof), and a less than $100 repair to the 25 year old gas dryer. We've been really lucky so far but the main reason we chose this house was because it was clear the sellers treated it well and did good quality work with their improvements and maintenance. We do have lead paint, asbestos, the ancient windows and floors, but I love the overall character of the house (I also liked its plaster walls vs. drywall).

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